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Factors Affecting the Vertical Distribution of Silicon in Paddy Soils in Mid-subtropical China

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Abstract

Silicon can promote rice growth and reduce the toxicity of heavy metals in rice. However, controlling factors for the vertical distribution of silicon in typical paddy soils in mid-subtropical regions of China remain largely unexplored. Here, we aimed to analyze the silicon content in plough and subsurface layers derived from six parent materials in Hunan Province (southern China) based on 62 soil profile samples. Multiple stepwise regression, random forest, and gradient boosting machine learning models were used and compared to predict soil available silicon content and quantify the contribution of different variables on silicon variation. We found that plough layers in the eastern (85% of points) and western (78% of points) Hunan Province were deficient (< 100 mg kg−1) in available silicon content. Total silicon content in paddy soil derived from slate (623 ± 100 g kg−1) and limestone (606 ± 74 g kg−1) was higher than in other soils. The available silicon content was the lowest in granite (51 ± 15 mg kg−1). It was closely correlated with available cadmium while being mainly influenced by soil pH, organic carbon, and bulk density. The prediction model of available Si established using a random forest had the highest accuracy (R2 = 0.74). Widespread deficiency in available silicon content in plough layers of paddy soil in mid-subtropical China highlights the importance and value of higher silicon fertilizer input in soils.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the soil samples provided by College of Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University Participated in Special Project on National Science and Technology Basic Work, China under Grant 2014FY110200.

Funding

This work was supported by Hunan Provincial Base for Scientific and Technological Innovation Cooperation, China under Grant 2018WK4013, the Key Research and Development Program of Hunan Province, China under Grant 2019WK2031, Study on soil remediation and improvement of agricultural land with biomass power plant waste ash (GSKJ2-P05-2021), Open funding of the Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health (Zhejiang University), and Ministry of Education (EREH202206), the Science and Technology Project of the Department of Education of Jiangxi Province (No. GJJ190256).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hunan University of Finance and Economics, Changsha, 410205, China

    Pengbo Zhang, Ningxiang Ouyang, Xiao Wei & Zhaoyan Lu

  2. Hunan Economic Geography Technology Development Co., Ltd, Changsha, 410205, China

    Pengbo Zhang, Xiao Wei & Zhaoyan Lu

  3. College of Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, 410128, China

    Pengbo Zhang, Ningxiang Ouyang, Yangzhu Zhang & Jiachao Zhang

  4. Department of Land Resource Management, School of Public Finance and Public Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Bifeng Hu & Modian Xie

  5. Institute of Agricultural Remote Sensing and Information Technology Application, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Bifeng Hu

  6. Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health (Zhejiang University), Ministry of Education, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Bifeng Hu

  7. Hunan Institute of Agro-Environment and Ecology, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, 410125, China

    Hua Peng

  8. Shimen County Cultivated Land Quality Monitoring and Protection Center, Changde, 415300, China

    Xia Li

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  1. Pengbo Zhang
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Pengbo Zhang, Ningxiang Ouyang, Xiao Wei, and Yangzhu Zhang; methodology, Pengbo Zhang, Ningxiang Ouyang, Xiao Wei, and Yangzhu Zhang; formal analysis and investigation, Pengbo Zhang, Ningxiang Ouyang, Xiao Wei, Yangzhu Zhang, Bifeng Hu, Zhaoyan Lu, Hua Peng, Jiachao Zhang, Xia Li, and Modian Xie; resources, Xiao Wei, Yangzhu Zhang, Bifeng Hu, and Hua Peng; writing—original draft preparation, Pengbo Zhang, and Ningxiang Ouyang; writing—review and editing, Pengbo Zhang, Ningxiang Ouyang, Xiao Wei, and Yangzhu Zhang; supervision, Ningxiang Ouyang, Xiao Wei, and Yangzhu Zhang; funding acquisition, Pengbo Zhang, Xiao Wei, Yangzhu Zhang, Bifeng Hu, and Hua Peng. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ningxiang Ouyang or Xiao Wei.

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Zhang, P., Ouyang, N., Wei, X. et al. Factors Affecting the Vertical Distribution of Silicon in Paddy Soils in Mid-subtropical China. Silicon 15, 7477–7487 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-023-02588-z

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